HAMPSHIRE LADIES PROMOTED TO PREMIER DIVISION
Sue Williams has captained the Hampshire Ladies 1st Team to victory in the Inter-County Championships. Hampshire were without their top three players but were still able to beat Avon, Sussex and S.E.Wales to win promotion to the Premier Division. Four of the six ties were won 3-2 and most of the 30 games were very closely contested. Hampshire won with three ties and 52 points. Second was Sussex with two ties and 40 points. Avon had one tie and 26 points. S.E.Wales had no ties and 24 points. Captain Sue Williams of Redrice put in a lot of work organising training sessions to bolster team spirit and finally all that effort paid off handsomely. Flavia Roberts (Conners) and only recently returned to the UK came up trumps winning all her matches in convincing style. Naomi Duthie (David Lloyd) and Lorna Russell (Lee) both won two matches. Sue Williams, Sharon Cullinane (Winchester) and Alex Clarke (Lee) in her first senior County match won one each. Flavia, Sue and Sharon plan to take the over 40 competition by storm next season.
Redrice Men�s 1st Team has taken the Hampshire Premier Division title race to the final match of the season. Currently, lying in second place, the team will face league leaders Winchester at Redrice on Thursday 3rd April. The Oakwood Shopfitting sponsored team trail by several points so will require an emphatic victory to win the title for a second successive season. Two recent hard-earned victories have led to this season�s climax. Away at Fair Oak, Ray Burke (3) won the decisive match. In a slow-paced game, which suited the home player, Burke was sucked into a soft lob and drop game unable to inject pace and pressurise his opponent. The fourth game could have gone either way but, an outrageous cross-court volley nick gave the Redrice man the match 9/6 6/9 9/2 9/7. Earlier Adrian Williams (4) and Gary Hales (2) had both won comfortably 3-0. Sue Williams (5), called up for a second time to the 1st team, twice had winning positions. After taking the first two games she led in both the third and fifth games but, not through lack of effort she lost out 3-2. The same score-line befell Stuart Summers. Playing at number one string, in the absence of Michael Elford, Summers lost 9/7 3/9 1/9 9/6 4/9 to England Over 35�s International Martin Greenslade. The second team victory came at home against Lee-on-Solent. Another 18 points were earned in a 4-1 win. Michael Elford (1) returned to the side and beat Dean Watson 9/2 10/9 9/7. Stuart Summers (2) and Gary Hales (3) were 3-0 victors but, there was a second 1st team defeat of the season for Adrian Williams (5) ironically against the same opponents but a different player. Williams lost 3-1. Ray Burke (3) looked in danger of defeat, trailing by two games to one and 0/6 in the fourth game, but a combination of greater effort and experience saw him win through 9/6 9/1 in the final two games.
Gary Hales
Squash Manager